Poisoning of princess Poppy
by moonlightdreamer1
Summary: This is a retelling of Snow White with the trolls characters.
1. Chapter 1

This is a retelling of snow white, it has a basis in the original fairy tale and the Disney version so it may be a little odd in places but then that's me. Any way I don't own anything here. Warnings of angst, darkness and later fluff. I have dyslexia so please be kind about spelling and grammar. This fiction goes out to princess mh who wanted to see trolls and snow white.

Poisoning of princess Poppy

Chapter one:

Once upon a time long ago and far away or so I was told and so I shall tell it to you, there lived a good and kind troll King Peppy and his Queen Periwinkle, these two monarchs where loved by all of their people. The King and Queen of the trolls were very much in love and very happy together but they longed for a child. Then one day in the spring Queen Periwinkle was sitting in the castle garden sewing with her ladies in waiting when she noticed a beautiful pink flower, the Queen placed her sewing to one side and went over to the flower. Periwinkle looked down at the flower smiling to herself, when one of her ladies in waiting came over to the Queen she smiled at her and said in a soft longing voice. "Oh, if only I could have a child like that flower, what a beautiful shade of pink."

"It is a lovely flower." The lady agreed smiling back at her Queen.

The Queen's wish for this child as beautiful as that flower was granted and she brought into the word a beautiful pink troll daughter. She named her child Poppy, but Queen Periwinkle would never get to see her child grow into a fully grown troll as not long after the birth of her child the Queen died. King Peppy mourned the loss of his wife and spent the first ten years of Poppy's life without a wife at his side but as his daughter started to become more mature the King worried that his daughter needed a mother to help her on her path to adult hood. With this thought in his mind Peppy began to look around for a new wife, eventually he met a beautiful troll Queen from the kingdom of the mountain trolls called Bluebell. Although she was beautiful, Bluebell was a in fact a cruel, selfish and vain troll who only cared for her looks and nothing else. She wished only to be the most beautiful troll in all the kingdoms and Queen Bluebell would use her magic to ruthlessly destroy any troll who she felt was competition to her.

King Peppy fell in love with the purple troll's great beauty, in fact he was so blinded by her looks that he didn't see her true personality and would not do so for many years. They were married a year after their first meeting and Queen Bluebell moved into the castle with her new husband. It did not take the vain purple troll long to stamp her authority all over both the castle and the kingdom. The troll Queen had brought with her a magic mirror which every day she would always ask the same question. "Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest troll of them all."

As long as the mirror answered. "You are." Then the Queen was satisfied.

Poppy continued to grow becoming more beautiful with each year that passed by. Queen Bluebell paid little attention to the young princess because as far as Bluebell was concerned she was no competition to her. Then one day Bluebell asked her mirror its usual question but the answer she received was not one which pleased her as instead of saying you are as the mirror usually did it said. "My Queen fair you are indeed, but princess Poppy is fairer than you."

Enraged by the mirrors words Bluebell called her faithful huntsman to her, she turned to him, handed the huntsman a box and told him. "I want you to take princess Poppy into the forest and kill her. Then I want you to bring me her heart in this box."

The huntsman took the box and then bowed to the Queen. "Yes, my Queen."

So it was that the huntsman took the princess out into the forest, he watched as the young pink troll happily skipped here and there picking flowers as she went. Soon the princess started to sing, as the huntsman watched her he found that he didn't have the heart to kill such an innocent troll. Quickly the huntsman went over to the princess and addressed her in grave tones. "Princess Poppy, your step mother Queen Bluebell asked me to bring you out into the forest to kill you but I cannot do as she has commanded me. Runaway princess run as far as you can, don't go back to the castle, if you do the Queen will only look for another way to kill you. I will see to it that your step mother receives a heart so that she thinks that you are dead then I hope you will be safe from her."

Taking his words to heart Poppy turned and ran into the forest, she ran as far and as fast as she could until at last the princess found herself in a clearing which contained a cottage. The pink troll walked up to the door and knocked, there was no answer but when Poppy tried the door it was not locked. So the princess opened the door and looked inside, the cottage was a mess and without stopping to think about it Poppy set to cleaning the cottage singing to herself the whole while. As the pink troll cleaned she hoped that the trolls that lived here would hopefully see what a good job she had done and let her stay here with them. As Poppy looked round the now tidy cottage she could see that there was ten of everything and the princess wondered what these ten trolls might be like.

Tired from all of her work and fleeing from her step mother Poppy went upstairs to look for some were to sleep, upstairs she found two doors leading to what she assumed would be bedrooms. To see if she was right the pink troll opened one door and looked inside the room sure enough her intuition had been correct it was a bedroom. There were three beds in this first bedroom, the princess realized they had names carved in the bottom of the beds frame and read them out to herself. "Smidge, Suki, Satin and Chenille." This last bed was larger than the others in the room large enough for two trolls and the princess quickly realised that two trolls obviously used this bed.

Poppy smiled to herself, she left this room, crossed the hallway and opened the door to the second room again this was a bedroom. This room contained six beds and once again these beds also had names carved into the bottom of their frames. "Biggie, Cooper, Guy Diamond, Fuzzbert, Creek and Branch." Poppy let out a tired yawn, she walked into the bedroom, the princess settled herself on the bed belonging to Branch and quickly fell asleep.

When the ten residents of the cottage arrived home from their days work and noticed how tidy it was they were all instantly confused. Together the ten trolls started looking around the cottage to try and see who had done all of this work for them. It was Suki who found the princess, she came flying back down the stairs into the main room of the cottage, before gesturing behind her back up the stairs and saying to the others in a quiet voice. "A strange pink troll is upstairs sleeping in Branch's bed."

The rest of the trolls looked at each other with surprise before going up stairs and looking into the boy's bedroom. Sure enough laying in Branch's bed fast asleep was a pink troll, the grey troll had to admit she was a pretty young thing but still he knew that she shouldn't be here. Creek slowly made his way into the room, he walked over to her side and gently shook this other troll awake. Poppy blinked up sleepily at him before her eyes widened, the princess quickly sat up in the bed and looked towards the doorway of the room to see that other trolls were gathered in the doorway. These other trolls where all looking at her but Poppy could see that none of them were judging her they were simply curious. One of these nine troll stood out to her, he was grey with black hair, Poppy had never seen a troll with that colouring before, but she had heard the stories about them before the princess knew that trolls only went grey if their heart was broken.

"Who are you little one?" The purple troll by the bedside asked her kindly.

"I'm princess Poppy, I ran away from the castle because my step mother the Queen is trying to kill me. Please can I stay here with all of you. I can cook and keep house so I'll be useful I promise." As she spoke the princess looked around at them all with wide pleading eyes.

The other trolls all traded looks for a few moments. "Any objections?" Creek asked the rest of them and as he did this Poppy realised he was probably the leader of this little group.

"Well we can hardly turn her back out into the forest can we?" This comment came from the grey troll.

The other trolls all shook their heads and the purple troll smiled at the princess. "It looks like you can stay. I think with that being the case we should really introduce ourselves to you. I'm Creek and I am the leader here."

The rest introduced themselves one by one, until it came to the grey troll who had not said a word until now. "I'm Branch and I'm second in command here." As he spoke Branch crossed his arms against his chest and leant against the door frame.

His actions caused Creek to let out a deep sigh. "Don't let Mr Grumpy over there worry you. He can't help it…"

Poppy smiled widely at the purple troll and then turned with the same smile on her face to look at Branch. "I know Branch can't help it, he is broken hearted after all. My father told me about it once, I always thought that was such a cruel thing for a troll to suffer especially as only true love can cure it."

When the princess said this an absolute silence quickly spread over the room. Branch suddenly turned and walked away from the door way. Quickly Poppy looked at Creek and asked with concern. "Did I say something wrong?"

Creek shook his head and sat down on the bed next to the princess before saying. "No Poppy you didn't say anything wrong Branch just suffers a lot that is all. We don't even know what turned him grey…Copper found him wandering the forest one day young and lost, he became one of us…We don't even know were Branch really came from, he won't talk about his past at all…But it is clearly were the heartbreak Branch suffers comes from."

Just a few moments later Poppy could smell something cooking down stairs and as soon as the princess smelt the food her tummy gave a growl. Suki smiled at the younger troll and said to the princess kindly. "It would appear Branch has started dinner. Come on Poppy lets go downstairs and eat."

Together they all made their way downstairs and when they entered the main room of the cottage Poppy noticed that just as Suki had said he would be the grey troll was making dinner, Poppy went over to him and said to him. "I can take care of dinner Branch."

"It's fine, your tired I'll cook tonight." He said to her reassuringly.

"Thank you." The princess said genuinely glad not to have to cook that night after the day she's had.

A short while later the eleven trolls were sitting at the table together eating their meal and once it was eaten Poppy washed up. Creek looked across the table and spoke to Branch. "Poppy will need a bed made."

"Yes, I know that. Don't worry I will go into the forest and get some wood together tomorrow. It shouldn't take me too long to make her a bed."

Suki spoke to the grey troll at this point. "If you see some nettles and dandelion we could use some more the stocks are getting low."

"Not a problem. I can add both of those things to my usual foraging list." The grey troll told her with a nod of his head.

When it came for the trolls to head to bed for the night they set up a temporary bed for Poppy on the floor in the girl's room. The pink troll lay in bed staring up at the wooden beams above her, the princess was lost in her thoughts so much had changed in her life in such a short space of time. Despite everything that had happened to her today Poppy felt safe in this cottage with these trolls. Her mind wandered to Branch she wondered what had happened to make him grey and if the grey troll would ever find true love and regain his true colours.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two:

Over the next few months Poppy got to know the other trolls she was now living with, they were all a little different from each other but she really liked each one of them, the Princess had also found out that they all had different jobs. These trolls were all so busy with all of the things that they were doing the princess was unsurprised to discover that they'd had no time left in their day to clean the cottage before she had arrived. Satin and Chenille made the clothes for them all and to sell, Smidge, Fuzzbert and Creek went into the nearby mountains to mine the precious gems and metals. Copper helped to carry things back to and from the mines for these three trolls. Branch invented all kinds of thing, he carved, built, he also made things from the metals and gems as well as going out into the forest to forage for things that they needed. Biggie with his pet glow worm went into the local town to sell the things which made by the twins and Branch and purchase any items they needed while he was there. Guy Diamond was the one who tended the vegetable and herb gardens, he would also go into town with Biggie every day to sell any extra foods and herbs they had.

Poppy had to admit that she was really impressed by the things that Branch made from the metals and gems, he made everything from practical items to magnificent items of jewellery. The princess was still curious about what had turned the other troll grey, she wondered what his real colours looked like and what his singing voice sounded like, she also longed to know where Branch had come from. It was only knowing that the grey troll was in a lot of pain that stopped Poppy from asking all of the questions that she wanted to ask him. The princess had also learnt that despite his grumpy exterior Branch had a kind side to him and in his own strange way the grey troll cared for them all.

The other trolls had also grown use to the princess being part of their lives, they had come to like Poppy very much, she was a sweet, kind and helpful troll. They loved her singing voice, soon they were joining in with the songs the princess would sing and even the nine trolls taught her their own songs. The ten trolls found that they felt rather protective over the young princess and even Branch showed his protective streak around Poppy, this had surprised the other nine trolls but they had been smart enough not to comment on this fact. It had been the grey troll who insisted that whenever Poppy was home alone in the cottage that she should lock the door and let no one enter it in case Queen Bluebell came looking for her. The princess had been the one to dub them all the snack pack a name which caused much laughter but was taken up by her new friends and used by them a lot.

Years passed by and the princess kept safe by her protective new friends grew into a beautiful troll both in body and in soul. Over these years Poppy had developed a huge crush on Creek, the purple troll liked the princess but he didn't love her in the way Poppy wanted him to as he thought of her more like a younger sister. Even though he did not have a romantic interest in the princess Creek still tried to be kind to the younger troll, he didn't want to hurt the pink troll's feelings and have her suffer the same terrible fate as Branch.

Poppy had tried a lot of times to find out from Branch where he had come from and what had happened to him in order to turn him grey. At first the grey troll had refused to tell her anything, but after much begging and pleading over the past few years Branch finally decide he was going to have to tell Poppy something because she was clearly not going to leave him alone till he did. "Fine!" He snapped at her finally at the end of his rope. "You want to know I'll tell you then! I come from the mountain troll kingdom! I lost my colours because my parents died protecting me and then so did my grandmother! My mother and grandmother died because they were more beautiful then Queen Bluebell, my father died trying to protect them and me from her as the Queen also considered me a threat to her position as the fairest in the land…I should have died too but she took one look at my ugly grey colour after I lost all of the trolls I cared about and had me banished instead. Are you happy now you know what happened to me?"

The pink troll along with the other nine trolls he had lived with for years now all stared at him with wide eyes and the princess shook her head in answer to Branch's question. Poppy had never thought that one troll could have suffered through so much, she couldn't help but think that now she knew the truth that it was no wonder Branch was grey. "Oh Branch." Poppy said softly before she walked over to the grey troll and hugged him hard.

Slowly the grey troll returned the embrace, he hid his face in the side of the princess's neck and she could feel his tears on her skin. "Oh Branch." As she said this for the second time Poppy started to stroke his black hair instantly regretting what she had forced him to confess and the pain she had made him relive. A sudden strangled sob escaped Branch and then he started to shake as the grey troll completely broke down in the arms of the princess. Poppy just held him, she stroked his hair making soothing sounds, no one moved, they had always known that Branch had suffered a lot of pain but none of them had known that the pain in him ran this deep.

Slowly but surely the grey troll began to stop weeping, he moved back from Poppy, the princess reached up and gently stroked the tears which remained on his cheeks away. The grey troll blushed but didn't prevent the pink troll doing this and it was in that one moment that Creek and the others all realised that Branch cared deeply for Poppy. The princess locked her pink eyes with Branch's blue eyes and said to him in a soft caring voice. "One day you're going to find true love. All you need to do is listen to your heart and it will show you the way."

As the words of the princess caused the grey troll gave Poppy a small half smile Creek found himself suspecting that Branch more than just cared for the princess, the purple troll felt that it was actually more likely the grey troll was in love with her. Creek was also sure that because of his broken heart Branch had absolutely no idea of his own feelings for the princess. The purple troll decided that he would try to subtly help bring these two trolls together he could see that they would make an excellent couple if they just gave themselves the chance. However Creek would not get much of a chance to try and help bring Branch and Poppy together as the Queen in her far off castle was asking her magic mirror a question she had not asked it for many years. "Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of all?"

"You my Queen are fair this is true but princess Poppy is the fairest of all." As it spoke the mirror reflected an image of Poppy and the place where she was living.

Enraged to discover her stepdaughter was still alive, the Queen instantly turned her thoughts to how she could use her magic to do away with Poppy for good this time. Bluebell used her magic to create a beautiful blue and pink corset which once it was on the princess would keep tightening until the pink troll could no longer breath. The Queen slipped this corset into a basket with lots of others, before she disguised herself as a middle aged peddler troll and made her way into the forest. It didn't take the purple Queen long to find the cottage of the trolls, the princess was outside cleaning the windows as the Bluebell made her way over to Poppy and once she was close enough addressed her. "Good morning fair lass. Can I sell you one of my fine corsets?"

With a gasp of surprise Poppy quickly turned to face older troll and backed away from her. "There beautiful but no thank you."

"Come now at least try one on. A pretty lass like you should have a lovely corset." This said the disguised Queen picked the corset up out of the basket and held it out towards her. "Trying one on isn't going to hurt you lass."

Poppy looked at the corset and sighed it was very pretty and she couldn't help but think that maybe the older troll was right trying one on wasn't going to hurt her. "Alright, thank you for letting me try one on."

Smiling Bluebell placed the corset on the Poppy, she did it up then stepped back to watch with sadistic delight as the corset got tighter and tighter on the younger troll. The Queen only left the clearing when the princess fell down to the ground and was laying perfectly still looking dead.

A few moments after this the snack pack came home, the instant they spotted Poppy, quickly they were at her side trying to work out what was wrong with the princess. It was Branch who spotted the corset on Poppy. "That wasn't on her earlier." He said before he knelt down at her side, the grey troll pulled out a knife from his pocket and carefully cut the corset away from the body of the pink troll. As soon as the corset was off of her Poppy took a deep breath and opened her eyes, Branch took one of her hands into his and asked with concern. "Were did the corset come from Poppy?"

"A peddler woman, she helped me to try it on and then I couldn't breathe…"

The grey troll let out a low pitched growl. "That had to be Queen Bluebell, this stinks of her. This means she knows where you are now Poppy. If you want to stay here with us, then you are going to need to be even more careful." As he spoke Branch stood back up and held a hand out to the princess.

As the princess put her hand into his, Poppy gave Branch a nod of understanding, she let him help her up onto her feet and then said to him. "I will be extra careful from now on Branch I promise."

The grey troll gave her a nod, he then reluctantly released the hand of the princess and watched her walk inside the cottage closely followed by the rest of the gang. Branch couldn't stand the thought of Queen Bluebell succeeding in harming Poppy, his broken heart hurt at the very thought of it and the grey troll wondered why he was feeling this way about the princess. Branch reasoned that it was because he didn't want to lose yet another troll he cared about to Queen Bluebell and her insane need to be the fairest of them all. When a purple hand fell onto his shoulder Branch turned to look at Creek, the other troll gave him an understanding smile before taking his hand away and walking inside to join the rest of the snack pack. The grey troll shook his head confused by what Creek had just done and why, Branch shook himself and then went inside the cottage making sure to close and lock the door of their home behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three:

As soon as the Queen arrived back at the castle, she quickly took off her disguise, then went straight to her magic mirror and standing before it smiling widely Bluebell asked. "Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?"

"You my Queen are fair this is true but princess Poppy is the fairest of all." The mirror told her showing the princess once more alive and in the safe care of her friends.

Bluebell let out a cry of pure frustration, before she then quickly started to try and to think of another way to kill the princess. As the Queen looked around her room for inspiration her green eyes settled on a beautiful pink and blue floral comb on her nearby dressing table and an idea came to her, smiling evilly Bluebell walked over to her dressing table and picked the comb up. The Queen had decided she that would make a poison which she would place on the combs teeth then when princess Poppy used it to comb her hair the princess would die from the poison and then she would once more be the fairest of all.

Bluebell eagerly set to work and by the next morning the poison comb was ready to be used. The Queen placed it into a basket with lots of other combs, this time she disguised herself as a young more childlike troll and then set off into the forest heading towards the home of the ten trolls. When she arrived at the clearing the Queen made sure that Poppy was the only one home so that there would be no one around to stop her or save the princess. Bluebell noticed that the pink troll was nearby out in the garden hanging out the washing and happy that it was safe to approach Poppy Bluebell walked over to her. "Hello pretty lady. Would you like to buy one of my pretty combs?" She asked in a cute childlike voice.

"Oh!" Poppy exclaimed with surprise turning to face the young troll, the princess smiled kindly at her but said firmly. "Thank you but no."

"But with such lovely hair you must need a comb?" She asked holding the blue and pink comb out to the princess.

The pink troll held up both her hands and took a step away from the young troll. "Really I don't need a new comb."

"Oh well if that's the case then may I just comb your beautiful hair?" As the young troll asked this she turned big blue pleading eyes onto the princess.

Not wishing to upset the younger troll, Poppy took her hair band out and then settled on the ground before her. "Alright you can comb my hair but only for a little while I have to get my chores done before the others get home."

Once Poppy was sitting in front of Bluebell and had finished speaking to her, the Queen quickly and ruthlessly thrust the comb into the princess's hair. The pink troll let out a cry of pain as the teeth of the comb bit into her scalp and Bluebell watched with delight as Poppy fell over onto her side onto the ground looking again as though she had died. The Queen went to retrieve the comb from the hair of the princess but Bluebell found that she could not remove it from Poppy's hair which had curled round it protectively. Unable to get the comb back Queen Bluebell let out frustrated sigh before she rose quickly and left the home of the ten trolls to return back to the castle so that she could go to her magic mirror and have it tell her at long last she was the fairest of all again.

The princess was found lying on the ground in the garden looking as though she dead by the ten trolls when they arrived home from their day's work. They gathered around her quickly and started to try and find out what was wrong with the pink troll this time. It was Suki who spotted the knot of hair wrapped round the comb. "I found something! There is something knotted in Poppy's hair just here but her hair won't let go of it. Branch I think that you had best try and get it out."

The grey troll looked at Suki with complete confusion before he asked her. "Me, why do I need to try and get it out?"

Creek spoke up at this point. "Mate we don't have time for arguments."

Branch gave him a nod of agreement, he knelt by Poppy's side, carefully he moved her head into his lap and then touched the knot of hair gently. Seeming to somehow sense that the grey troll was not a threat to Poppy the pink hair slowly moved out of the way of his questing fingers. Branch found the comb, he carefully drew it out of the princess's hair, the grey could smell something on the comb so he smelt it and then grimaced. "Poison, fortunately her hair stopped the comb from going in to deep so I should be able to treat it…Creek my bag hurry." As soon as Branch said this to him the purple troll dashed off into the cottage to fetch the bag the grey troll had asked for. Branch sat looking down at the princess with sad blue eyes and said to her softly. "Hold on Poppy." A few moments later Creek came running back out of the cottage carrying a green bag, he quickly handed the green bag over to Branch, he gave the other troll a nod of thanks. Quickly Branch placed the bag down, he opened it and fished out a bottle containing a blue liquid and a cloth from inside. The grey troll put some of the liquid in the bottle onto the cloth, then held this to the marks on the princess's head. A few moments later Poppy much to everyone's relief let out a groan and opened her eyes. "Hold still." Branch told her gently.

So surprised by the worry in his blue eyes and the gentleness of Branch's voice Poppy did as the grey troll told her to. "What happened to me?"

Quickly Branch explained things to her. "There was a comb in your hair it had been poisoned fortunately your hair stopped you from receiving anything more than a scratch so I was able to treat it. You'll need to drink a medicine for the next few days just to make sure there are no lasting effects but I think you will be fine."

Poppy sighed deeply and then smiled up at the grey troll. "Thank you for saving me again. I'm guessing this was another attempt by my stepmother to kill me."

Branch gave her a nod. "I think you are right. I'm afraid we are stuck like this for a little bit…I want to make sure that the antidote has had time to work before you try moving."

"I understand." The princess assured her friend.

The grey troll turned to Creek. "Would you fetch a couple of blankets please Creek."

"Of cause." The purple troll said before he went into the cottage and returned a few moments later with the requested blankets he placed one over the princess and the other round Branch's shoulders.

Poppy smiled widely at Creek, both trolls gave him their thanks, smiling at them the purple troll ushered the rest of the snack pack into the cottage leaving Branch and Poppy alone outside. The princess looked up at the grey troll, Branch was sitting very still and he was watching her closely. Slowly the pink troll smiled up at him and then said conversationally. "I didn't know you knew anything about poisons."

Branch shrugged slightly and then explained his knowledge to the princess. "I do all of the foraging, I learnt all about to properties of plants from that. Then Biggie brought me home some books he thought I might find interesting and I learnt all about healing and poisons from them. Besides which with all the work we do someone had to be the healer."

"Good point. You have such beautiful blue eyes…I never noticed before…" Poppy brought one hand out from under the blanket and placed it to the cheek of the grey troll.

Branch could feel himself blushing but he couldn't help but lean into the hand of the princess, Poppy smiled widely at his reaction and she felt her heart flutter. The pink troll started to stroke his cheek with her fingers, she had never seen Branch like this before and it made her feel very strange inside. It was nothing like the feelings Poppy had for Creek, she wasn't sure what this feeling was but it made her feel very happy, safe and content. Branch's broken heart felt warm, his mind was racing a mile a minute and all at once the grey troll realised what was happening to him he was falling in love with Poppy. Branch bit back the groan which wanted to escape him, of all the trolls for him to start to have romantic feelings for it had to be a princess who was well above him in rank and who was in love with his best friend. There was no way that Branch would ever try to come between Creek and Poppy they both meant too much to him to do that. As his grandmother once said to him sometimes loving someone was about loving them enough to let them go. Still Branch couldn't stand the thought of Bluebell managing to kill Poppy, he had lost to many trolls he cared about to lose another one and the grey troll hoped that they could keep the princess safe from Queen Bluebell.

"Branch what are you thinking?" Poppy asked him her voice soft.

The grey troll sighed and then answered this question. "I was thinking about my family…And that I don't want you to die at Queen Bluebells hands like they did."

"Oh Branch…If someone comes to the cottage again, I'll go straight inside I promise." She said to him her eyes serious.

"Good I'm glad to hear you say that. You should be alright to move now."

Poppy didn't move for a moment, instead she lay with her head in his lap and looked up at the sky, the stars were just starting to appear. "I miss my father…" She admitted softly. "I know Biggie told us that he heard in town that my stepmother told him I died in an accident and that he has gone into deep mourning…I wish I could tell him I am alright."

"I wish you could to, but the only way that would ever become possible is for Queen Bluebell to die and I don't think that is likely to happen." Branch told her with a shake of his head.

The princess sat up slowly carefully keeping the blanket around her, she gave a surprised start when a few moments later grey arms wrapped round her in a hug. Branch wasn't one for hugs usually so Poppy let herself enjoy every moment of feeling the normally reserved troll hold her close. The pink troll could feel her heart fluttering again and those feelings of safety, contentment and happiness were back. When Branch released her from the embrace he had been giving her Poppy had to fight back the urge to groan with disappointment or ask him to hug her again. They both stood, then side by side with the blankets still around them the two trolls walked back into the cottage, once they were inside Branch made sure to secure the door to the cottage behind them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four:

Queen Bluebell had returned to the castle, she removed her disguise and then quickly made her way to the room which contained her magic mirror. The Queen looked into the mirror and with a self satisfied smile on her face she spoke to the mirror. "Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?"

"You my Queen are fair this is true but princess Poppy is the fairest of all." The mirror told her showing the princess who was once more alive.

Bluebell let out a scream of pure frustration, before she snatched up one of her many books on dark magic and began to search through it for something which would finally kill the princess once and for all. Eventually after a few days of searching through her books the Queen found what she had been looking for a poison which would cause the curse of sleeping death which could only be cured by true loves kiss. True love was something which Bluebell did not believe really existed in this world so she felt it would be perfectly safe to make this poison and use it on Poppy. Now that she had decided what she was going to do the Queen now just needed to find something to hide the poison in and eventually Bluebell settled on using an apple.

Three days later the poisoned apple was ready, it looked like it was a beautiful tasty red apple rather than the dangerous fruit it truly was. This time the Queen disguised herself as an old troll and placed the poisoned apple in a basket with others she had collected and then set off into the forest. Bluebell made her way to the clearing were the cottage of the trolls was, as she had done the last two times the Queen made sure that none of the other trolls were in the cottage with Poppy before approaching the princess. "Apples for sale! Would you like to purchase one of my apples?"

Poppy quickly went inside the cottage and shut the door. "No thank you."

"Oh well then since I am hungry would you care to have one with me?" Bluebell asked offering one towards were the pink troll stood looking at her from a window.

"That's very kind of you but no thank you." Poppy said while shaking her head at the old troll.

"Come now it's only an apple, if it helps I will cut it in half and we can share it." As she spoke the old troll took the apple out of the basket, she pulled a knife out from within the basket and then cut the fruit in half. With this done the disguised Queen held half of the poisoned apple out to Poppy smiling at her encouragingly.

The princess felt that if the old troll was willing to eat one half of the apple then it could not be dangerous to her or a trick of her stepmothers as Poppy felt it was unlikely that Queen Bluebell would put her own life in danger. So, the pink troll opened the door of the cottage, she took the half of the apple being offered to her, Poppy smiled at the old troll and then bit into it. The poison quickly took effect on her, the princess dropped to the ground and her part of the apple fell to the floor not far from her. The Queen watched her for a few moments, she could see that Poppy was not breathing or moving and Bluebell was well satisfied that this time he really had managed to kill the princess at last and the Queen in her joy let out a laugh of pure evil. She turned to leave the clearing when the ten trolls Poppy had been living with came into the clearing, they took one look at the woman in the clearing and the princess laying on the floor of the cottage behind her and they just knew this had to be Queen Bluebell and that she had done something to the princess yet again. With shouts of fury the ten trolls came at the Queen, who screamed in fear and ran away from them as quickly as she could.

The snack pack chased after Bluebell, who ran blindly through the forest but soon the Queen found herself on a rock outcrop with no were left to run. The ten trolls started to go after her, but the rocks started to crack under them, quickly they retreated as it broke and before the Queen could get herself to safety the rocks fell away and with a scream Bluebell plummeted down onto the ground with them. The snack pack carefully made their way to the edge of the rocks and looked down, the Queen lay bellow, she was quiet clearly dead and they were glad to know that at last Queen Bluebell couldn't hurt anyone else ever again. Together the trolls returned to the cottage, Branch went straight to Poppy none of the others tried to stop him, he went onto his knees beside the princess and stroked her cheek softly. After a moment, Branch noticed the piece of apple near her, he lifted it from the floor and realised that there was poison dripping from the apple. The grey troll knew from its sickly green shade that this was a powerful poison, one he had no chance of curing and he shook his head. "Queen Bluebell has won…Princess Poppy is dead…We should tell her father the King the truth, after all now that the Queen is dead we have no more reason to hide the princess from her anymore."

Biggie stepped forward with Cooper at his side. "We will go to the King."

Creek gave the two of them nods and seeing this Biggie and Cooper quickly gathered together what they would need to take with them and then set off on their journey to the castle. The purple troll turned to the twins and spoke to them. "Satin, Chenille would you make the princess the most beautiful dress you can?"

The twins gave the purple troll a nod before heading off to do as he asked. Creek then turned his attention to Branch and addressed his friend. "Branch will you make her coffin? Poppy deserves the best there is and I know you will give her that."

"Of cause, I will." The grey troll said as he rose to his feet.

Creek then turned his attention to Smidge and Fuzzbert. "Take Poppy upstairs to her bed for now." They both nodded and did as their leader directed.

The purple troll spoke to Suki and Guy Diamond next. "Suki, Guy Diamond, we shall keep the cottage neat, make the meals and fetch anything the others need agreed?" The other two trolls gave their leader nods of agreement.

Creek walked over to Branch and placed a hand onto the shoulder of the grey troll before asking him quietly. "Are you alright?"

Branch shook his head and roughly scrubbed away tears which had been sliding silently down his face. "No, not really…Poppy looked like she was asleep more than dead…I thought for a moment I could do something for her again…This just reminds me of everything I already lost to Queen Bluebell. I'm sorry here I am going on about my pain when you must be suffering more than the rest of us, after all the two of you were in love. You should go upstairs and spend some time with Poppy, don't worry about me Creek I'll cope I always do."

Before the purple troll could say anything to his friend he was walking out of the cottage leaving him standing there alone. Creek shook his head and said to himself softly. "My friend I am not the one suffering the most here you are…"

Over the next few days the troll's cottage was a hive of activity, Satin and Chenille made a dress that any princess would have been proud to ware. It was a long sky blue dress made in a shimmering blue fabric which fell to Poppy's ankles the bodice clung to her figure, with a simple V neckline and the skirts of the dress flared out slightly around her. Branch had made the princess a circlet which looked like silver leafy tendrils with blue flowers spared along it and had placed it on her head as a sign of her royal rank. The grey troll had laboured tirelessly for days as he created a fabulous glass and gold coffin for Poppy. The pink troll now dressed in her new dress and circlet, lay inside the coffin under a blooming cherry tree in a clearing not far from the cottage.

Biggie and Cooper had returned from castle with King Peppy and some of his men. It had taken both trolls several days and the help of the Queens former huntsman to convince the King that Poppy really was his daughter and that Queen Bluebell had killed her despite their best efforts to keep the princess safe. When the old troll met all of the members of the snack pack, they had told him all about his daughter and their friendship with her as well as their love for his daughter. King Peppy found that he liked and admired these trolls, they had been like a family to his child and he was extremely grateful that they had done their best to take care of Poppy for him. When they had finally finished telling Peppy everything that had happened to his daughter in the time she had lived with the ten of them, the old King smiled sadly round at them and said. "Thank you, all of you for trying to help my poor daughter. Since you have all taken care of Poppy for so long, I feel that it is only right to ask you all for your permission take Poppy home so that she can be laid to rest next to her mother."

Creek being their leader spoke up for them. "Of cause you have our permission it is understandable that you wish to take Poppy home and we have no objections to that. I hope however you will not mind if we say goodbye to princess Poppy first and come to the castle to pay our respects every so often?"

Peppy smiled at the purple troll and shook his head. "No I have no objections to you all saying your farewells to my daughter before I take her home. Neither do I have any issues with any of you coming to the castle so that you can pay your respects to my daughter when any of you should wish to do so. All of you will always be welcome at the castle it is the least I can do to thank you all for trying to keep my daughter safe from Queen Bluebell."

"Thank you." Creek said to the King. "We will show you to Poppy now."

The ten trolls led Peppy and his men to the clearing which contained the princess and the coffin. The old King froze at the edge of the clearing and said softly. "Oh Poppy all the time I wasted…All the lies I believed. My beautiful daughter…"

Together the snack pack crossed the clearing, they took the glass cover off of the coffin so that they could say or do what they needed to in order to say goodbye before Poppy was taken home by her father. Fuzzbert went first he simple stroked his hair over her clasped hands which lay on her chest and then ran his hair along one of her cheeks before stepping away from the coffin. Satin and Chenille walked over next, they placed a hand each onto those of the princess and smiled down at her. "We are going to miss you so much." Satin said softly before they left the side of the coffin and made room for the next member of their party.

Copper went over, he smiled down at Poppy and said softly. "We brought your father to you. I'm only sorry we couldn't do that before this happened." Once he had said this he moved away and went to join the twins who both gave him a hug.

Smidge walked over next, she didn't say anything she simply placed a bunch of forget-me-not flowers on the chest of the princess before turning to go back and stand with the others. Biggie came over after her, he pressed a gentle kiss to Poppy's forehead before he said. "We'll never forget you I promise." With his goodbye now said the large troll moved away from the side of the princess.

Suki went next her words were simple but heart felt. "I'm going to miss hearing you sing every morning." The orange haired troll joined the rest of the snack pack and received a hug from them when she reached them.

Guy Diamond walked over to were Poppy lay he gently moved her fridge out of her face and said softly. "I know that you'll be the brightest star in heaven." He sniffed back the tears and then walked back to the others.

Branch went to go and say his good bye to the princess but Creek stopped him, the grey troll shot his friend a confused look but the purple troll just smiled at him and then went over to the princess. When he got to the side of Poppy Creek placed a soft kiss to her forehead and then said gently. "I'm going to miss you. You were always like the little sister I never had…I'm so sorry we couldn't keep you safe."

He walked back to join the others, Creek brought his eyes to meet the startled blue ones of Branch, the purple troll placed a hand onto the shoulder of his friend and said softly. "Tell her how you really feel Branch." The grey troll stared at him with surprise for a few moments, before he gave Creek a nod and walked across the clearing to were Poppy lay.

Branch took a deep breath, he let it out then began to sing to the troll he loved and as he sung all the trolls in the clearing stared open mouthed at Branch unable to believe the angelic voice he had been hiding from them all for so many years. The words of the grey troll washed over them, as he sung of love, of finding true colours, how beautiful they were and how beautiful she was. As the last notes of his song died Branch smiled down at the princess, he gently placed one hand to her cheek and said in a tender voice. "I love you Poppy." The grey troll surprised all of the trolls in the clearing when he placed his lips to hers in simple short a kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five:

All at once brilliant sky blue light filled the clearing, it was so sudden and bright that the other trolls in the clearing winced. When the light faded away the troll standing beside Poppy was now no longer grey instead his skin was the colour of the sky and his hair was sapphire blue. The blue troll no longer wore his simple forest clothing of a leaf vest and patched brown tatty shorts, he was instead dressed in well fitted dark blue trousers, a cream shirt with a high collar which was cut open at the front in a slight V and over it was a fitted blue jacket in exactly the same shade of deep blue as the trousers the fabric of which shimmered in the light. It was Peppy who noticed that ringing his head at the base of his sapphire blue hair was a simple golden crown and the old King suddenly realized who this was. "Prince Branch…But Queen Bluebell said you died…"

As someone called him prince for the first time in a long time the blue troll gave a start of surprise and he tore his gaze away from Poppy to look at Peppy. Before Branch could say anything to this, the princess let out a small noise, his blue gaze darted down to her and the blue troll backed away from Poppy. His gaze shot across the clearing to Creek, the purple troll smiled at him widely, as Branch went to take another step away from the princess a pink hand curled round one of his wrists stopping him from going any further. "Branch?" Asked Poppy her pink eyes wide with disbelief at the sight of the other troll.

"Yes Poppy." The now blue troll assured her with a small smile on his lips as she let go of his wrist.

The pink troll couldn't help staring at Branch he was still the same wonderful troll from before but his colouring rendered him even more handsome than before at least in her eyes and the way he was looking at her made her feel like she was the most important thing in the world to Branch. "You have colour…What handsome shades of blue you are…But if you have your colour back that would mean you found true love…You look so different like a prince…"

Branch chuckled then spoke to the princess as he took one of her hands into his and helped her to stand. "Yes Poppy, I did find a true love and you are that true love. As for the fact that I look like a prince that is probably to do with the fact that I am one."

As the princess stood Branch let go of her hand, Poppy looked around the clearing she was standing in and noticed that all of her friend's and her father were there. Poppy smiled at them all happy to see them, then suddenly the pink troll realised that for her father to be here and all of her friends then something had obviously happened to her again. The princess looked up at the prince by her side and asked him. "What did my stepmother do this time?"

"She poisoned you again. We really did think you were dead this time, I couldn't think of anything which could save you." Branch told her his voice full of sadness as he did so.

Poppy gently placed one of her hands to his cheek, the blue troll turned his head slightly and kissed the palm of her hand causing the princess to blush. "Then how…How was I saved?" As Poppy asked this question the blue troll blushed, the pink troll quickly noticed his blush, she took her hand away from his face and then asked him gently. "What did you do to save me this time?"

Nervously Branch reached up with one hand and scratched the back of his head. "Nothing important…Creek is waiting for you…" Poppy went to say something to the prince but he held his hands up towards her and spoke to her again. "It's alright Poppy, I didn't expect you to love me the way I do you…After all you've been in love with Creek for years…I'm just glad you are alright."

The blue troll backed away from the princess but before he could get very far Creek spoke up. "True love and true loves kiss breaking an evil enchantment is not nothing Branch! I don't love Poppy as anything more than a sister…You are her true love and she is yours."

When Creek said this Poppy's eyes went wide with shock, the princess shook herself out of her surprise and then went after the blue troll. "Creek is right true love is not nothing…You saved me with true loves kiss…All this time I wondered what it was I felt around you and now I know it was true love. I love you Branch…" As she said these words Branch froze in his retreat from the princess and his blue eyes widened with amazement. The pink troll smiled at the clearly surprised blue troll, she closed what remained of the gap between them, the princess took both of his hands into hers and looked up at him. "I love you Branch." Branch shook his head clearly not quiet believing her words, Poppy just smiled at him, she kept her gaze locked with his and said for a third time. "I truly do love you Branch."

As Poppy told him she loved him for the third time Branch could see the truth of her words in her pink eyes and slowly he smiled down at her. "I love you too Poppy with all of my heart."

As soon as Branch said these words the princess let go of his hands, she wound her fingers into his sapphire blue hair and then pulled his head down so that she could kiss him. The eyes of the prince went wide with surprise even as those of the pink troll slipped shut. Slowly Branch put his arms round Poppy drawing her close to him, he closed his eyes and started returning the kiss. As their lips danced, the princess let out a hum of contentment, loving the feelings which kissing Branch made pulse through her. All too soon for both of their liking they were breaking the kiss so they could get some air, Poppy took her hands out of his hair and placed her arms round Branch's waist instead. Slowly their eyes opened, the couple smiled at each other before placing their foreheads together and sighing with complete contentment.

Peppy smiling at the two younger trolls said. "So, prince Branch it is quite clear that my now deceased wife lied about your death…What really happened to you?"

Branch reluctantly moved his forehead away from Poppy's to look at the old King and answer his question. "After Queen Bluebell had my family killed I turned grey, when this happened my aunt thought this made me ugly which meant I was considered to be no longer a threat to Queen Bluebell, so she had me banished instead of having me killed too. My aunt did not believe in true love so she was convinced that I would stay grey and therefore never again be a threat to her quest to be the most beautiful of all the trolls. It appears she still thought the same way when she poisoned Poppy with a poison which could only be cured by true loves kiss."

It was a wide eyed Creek who spoke up at this point. "Wait if your family is all dead and now Queen Bluebell is dead as well…Then doesn't that mean that you are now the King of the mountain trolls?"

Peppy smiled at Creek and gave him a nod. "It does."

Branch blushed as the older King said this and said softly. "Please…I'm not use to being myself again let alone being King…"

"It is however what you are." Peppy said firmly interrupting what the prince had been saying. The old troll then smiled compassionately at the younger troll and said to him as comfortingly as he could. "Don't worry King Branch your people will understand, after all they know all too well what your aunt was like and I will be happy to guide you after all you will be my son-in-law."

The blue troll raised both eyebrows at Peppy before smiling slowly and looking down at Poppy. "Well my love it would appear that your father would like us to get married."

The princess released her hold on the young King, he reluctantly did the same and found himself already missing having the one he loved close to him. Poppy then quickly put her arm through Branch's and smiled up at him widely. "Trust me Branch my father is not the only one who wants us to get married, because marrying you sounds like a wonderful idea to me." The blue eyes of the blue troll went wide, Poppy placed a kiss to his cheek and then spoke to him again. "I'm not about to risk some other princess trying to marry my true love."

Branch laughed, it was a sound which had Poppy smiling widely at the one she loved, slowly he stopped laughing and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "I'm not going to marry any troll but you Poppy so you don't need to worry."

"Good I am glad to hear you say that."

The wedding took place three months later, in the time that had passed Branch had taken his place as King of the mountain trolls, he still kept in touch with the rest of the snack pack and Poppy and himself would both go into the forest to meet with them whenever he could. The young King was proving to be a good and wise ruler of his people, and encouraged by King Peppy the blue troll never hesitated to ask the older monarch for any help he might need. As for the wedding of princess Poppy and King Branch it was the wedding of the year, the bride was beautiful in a simple white dress which had been made for her by Satin and Chenille and the groom was handsome in a deep blue suit. Their vows were heartfelt, the young couple only had eyes for each other and it was clear to all those at the wedding that this was truly a wedding of two trolls who were truly in love. When the time came the young couple shared a brief but loving kiss to seal their bond and walked back down the aisle arm in arm smiling at each other lovingly.


End file.
